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  • Ed McMahon. Al Borlin. TV’s Frank. All slightly dim stars in the pantheon of Second Bananas.

  • But it’s not just people who can stand in the shadows, indeed, what we have here is

  • probably the most famous #2 in video gaming history. Always with second billing. Always

  • behind Super Mario Bros. It’s Duck Hunt, the first (and in many cases, only) experience

  • most people had with the Zapper.

  • It’s a classic case of Exactly What It Says On the Tin: You hunt ducks. You have a gun.

  • And you blow the little feathered bastards out of the sky, because Eddie Izzard told

  • you to. Your faithful companion dog accompanies you on this quest of destruction, holding

  • up each of your kills like he’s trying to take credit for it or something. No, dog,

  • I’m sorry. That’s my doing. I’m the one with opposable thumbs. Youre NOT the

  • man now, dog. And if you snicker at me one more time I’m going to replace you with

  • an otter.

  • Sorry. Had to put that mutt in his place. Anyway, each round consists of 10 birds, deployed

  • as singles or in pairs. One notes immediately that whereas in singles, the birds tend to

  • travel in straight lines, paired birds are prone to more diverse midair maneuvers, which

  • might make tracking them a bit of a pain. Fortunately, youve got three shots for

  • each set of bird or birds, so one miss won’t be a problem. Each downed bird will be marked

  • in red at the bottom of the screen; to progress to the next round, simply slaughter the quantity

  • indicated by Mega Man’s life bar down there. But be warned: After 10 rounds, that quota

  • will increase periodically.

  • If blasting cute little birds to smithereenies isn’t much your style, you can trade in

  • the duck blind for a nice, clean, antiseptic shooting range. Here, your targets are clay

  • pigeons, fired into the distance at varying trajectories. No bastard dog to mock you,

  • either, just you, the horizon, and discs of socially-acceptable soon-to-be-shrapnel. Be

  • warned, though, that the clay pigeons always come two at a time; there’s no singles option.

  • It’s the first and foremost name in the Zapper lineup, even if it does get just a

  • sliver of the limelight. Look on the bright side, at least it isn’t World Class Track

  • Meet, a more obscure game with a much more obscure peripheral, that tried to muscle in

  • between Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. But were not gonna stand for that, no sirree

  • bob! Duck Hunt deserves its own place, and most importantly, its own cart. And you can

  • still find it, alone, if youre lucky. Sure, it just takes up more space than the combined

  • cart, but your collection of games will look more accomplished! So grab a beer, settle

  • into your duck blind, throw a couple choice words at that stupid mutt,.and settle in for

  • some sportsmanship all NES-style. Itll cost less than live ammunition, and youre

  • less likely to catch pneumonia.

Ed McMahon. Al Borlin. TV’s Frank. All slightly dim stars in the pantheon of Second Bananas.

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